“I would hope our legacy would be not what we do, but how we do it. And, how we do it is with compassion, with respect, and with dignity for each person. That’s how the Sisters of St. Joseph were founded. That’s how Sister Louise and Sister Marilyn started St. Joseph Center. When I come back to St. Joseph Center and I reconnect with staff, that’s exactly what’s happening today.”
— SISTER KATHY STEIN
35 Years of Bread & Roses Café: A Donation Today Will Feed a Diner Tomorrow
This Women’s History Month, St. Joseph Center honors the transformative power of women. We celebrate the remarkable legacy of those who courageously shape our community, while also recognizing the visionary Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet. Their 35-year-old Bread and Roses Café continues to nourish our unhoused neighbors in Venice. Together with a few volunteers, Sister Marilyn Therese Rudy and Sister Louise Bernstein began providing advocacy and referrals, and assisting families with basic needs such as food, clothing, and job readiness in a small storefront on Rose Avenue in Venice. Learn more about the Sisters enduring legacy here.
As 2025 grocery prices rise, with a projected 41% increase in egg costs, we need your help more than ever in sustaining our mission of feeding over 46,000 meals to our unhoused neighbors at Bread & Roses Café. With your support, a legacy born from a 1976 field trip that sparked a movement of hope, love, and social justice will ensure that A Donation Today Will Feed a Diner Tomorrow.
A Donation Today Will Feed a Diner Tomorrow
We need your support to continue to nourish the bodies, hearts and minds of our most vulnerable neighbors, and to carry on the incredible 35-year legacy of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet.
To learn more and donate: Download the Anniversary Campaign Prospectus here
For naming opportunities or questions, contact:
Sharyn Church, Chief Development Officer
schurch@stjosephctr.org or 310-396-6468, x 347
Support Meals for a Day, a Week, a Month:
- $100 helps fund staples (coffee, milk, and sugar).
- $150 helps fund paper goods and takeout containers.
- $250 helps fund a healthy assortment of fresh fruit and vegetables.
- $1,820 supports meals for 130 diners for one day.
- $9,100 supports meals for 650 diners for one week.
- $36,400 supports meals for 13,000 diners for one month.
Chef James Wish List – Click Here to Donate
Bread & Roses Café – 35th Anniversary
“Everything is made with love, until it’s perfect. Our diners get the best of everything. The food is not only good for the body, but when our diners are on the receiving end of these meals, they already know that somebody cares.”
— CHEF JAMES CUNNINGHAM, BREAD & ROSES CAFÉ